The U.S. is Trapped in a Strange Loop of An Identity Filled with Contradictions. How Might It Break Free?

I’m Canadian. So, my insights into U.S. national identity are obviously external. But Canadians have spent most of our lives cautiously watching what America does and trying to plan for it. From the outside looking in, the United States appears to be locked in a recursive cycle—progress followed by backlash, expansion followed by restriction, revolution followed by entrenchment. This isn't just political whiplash; it's a pattern woven into the fabric of American identity.

Can the Conscious Reality Framework (CRF) offer a way to step outside this loop rather than endlessly repeating it? The urgency to do so has never been greater. Unlike past crises, today's challenges are existential—climate change, AI disruption, economic instability, and geopolitical shifts mean the stakes are higher than ever before. While past cycles played out over decades, the pace of global change now demands that the U.S. consciously break free from its recursive loop or risk catastrophic consequences.

A strange loop, was defined by Douglas Hofstadter in Gödel, Escher, Bach, as a self-referential system that cycles through states while maintaining the illusion of progression. It appears to evolve, but in reality, it returns to its starting contradictions in new forms.

Nations, like individuals, construct narratives about themselves. But when those narratives contain fundamental contradictions, they become trapped in recursive cycles, unable to fully resolve their paradoxes. The U.S. is especially susceptible to this because it was founded on dueling ideological premises:

• Freedom vs. Control,
• Equality vs. Hierarchy,
• Individualism vs. Collective Responsibility.

Each iteration of American history is a new expression of these same contradictions, ensuring that the U.S. remains caught in an identity loop. The difference now is that external pressures—climate instability, technological disruption, economic uncertainty—are accelerating the consequences of inaction. The luxury of slow reform is no longer an option.

The United States was not founded on a single, coherent ideology but on competing desires, many of which remain unresolved:

• Freedom vs. Authority (escaping religious persecution vs. enforcing religious orthodoxy),
• Democracy vs. Elitism (government “by the people” vs. systemic power hierarchies),
• Inclusion vs. Exclusion (the myth of a “nation of immigrants” vs. racialized citizenship laws),
• Interventionism vs. Isolationism (spreading democracy vs. resisting foreign influence),
• Economic Mobility vs. Systemic Entrenchment (the American Dream vs. generational wealth gaps).

These contradictions do not resolve; they mutate into different conflicts while maintaining the same fundamental tensions. Historically, this cycle of progress and backlash has played out over decades or even centuries. Today, the velocity of global change demands that these contradictions be resolved far more rapidly.

American history provides ample evidence of a self-perpetuating cycle:

1. Founding Contradictions (1776-1860s)
   • “All men are created equal” vs. Enslavement of Black people,
   • Revolution against tyranny vs. Centralized elite control,
   • Manifest Destiny vs. Indigenous genocide
     
2. Civil War & Reconstruction (1860s-1890s)
   • Slavery abolished vs. Jim Crow segregation,
   • National unity restored vs. Deep sectional resentment,
   • Progressive Era to Civil Rights (1900s-1970s)
   • Industrialization and reform vs. Corporate monopolies,
   • Civil Rights gains vs. Southern Strategy backlash,
     
3. Late 20th Century to Present (1980s-2020s)
   • Economic deregulation vs. Rising wealth inequality,
   • Multicultural expansion vs. Nativist backlash,
   • Obama as racial progress vs. The rise of Trumpism,
     
4. The 2020s: The Loop Accelerates
   • COVID-19: Individual freedom vs. Public responsibility,
   • Roe v. Wade: Women's rights vs. Reactionary rollback,
   • January 6th: Democratic institutions vs. Populist insurrection.
     

The pattern is clear: each step forward is met with resistance, ensuring that the U.S. remains in a self-referential loop.

In their book “The Fourth Turning”, Historians William Strauss and Neil Howe proposed that the U.S. undergoes 80–100-year cycles with four phases:

1. High — Post-crisis stability, strong institutions,
2. Awakening — Cultural revolution, generational shifts,
3. Unraveling — Institutional decay, polarization,
4. Crisis — Major upheaval leads to systemic restructuring.

We are currently in the Crisis phase (2020s-2030s)—a period of deep division and institutional instability. The resolution will define the next cycle:

By 2035-2040, we could see either:

• A rebuilding period and new national identity,
• Authoritarianism or civil conflict if instability remains unresolved.

Unlike past crises, we do not have the luxury of slow adaptation. The climate crisis, AI disruption, and economic collapse are unfolding at speeds never seen before. The strange loop of American identity feeds directly into this larger cycle. if unbroken, the next crisis will only perpetuate the same unresolved contradictions.

To step outside the loop, the U.S. must acknowledge the loop itself and engage in meta-conscious identity construction:

Shift public discourse from “political fights” to seeing history as a strange loop that must be broken.

Recognize and acknowledge that partisan media, gerrymandering, and elite power structures keep the loop intact.

Shift from an identity of opposition (“freedom from”) to an identity of interconnection (“freedom with”).

Responsive, flexible political structures that acknowledge paradoxes rather than freezing them in law.

Prioritize critical thinking over tribalism in education and media.

Skepticism is valid—many derive power from the loop itself. However, past cycles of crisis and reform have played out over decades, while today’s crises demand action within years. The U.S. must either break the loop now or face collapse and forced adaptation.

The urgency is real. The cycle does not have to continue. But it will—unless a critical mass of people chooses to step outside of it.

© Jason Tice, 2025